To —— (Spencer)

by William Robert Spencer

To ——.

Too late I stayed—forgive the crime;
Unheeded flew the hours;
How noiselessly falls the foot of Time!
That only treads on flowers!

What eye with clear account remarks
The ebbing of the glass,
When all its sands are diamond sparks,
They dazzle as they pass!

Oh! who to sober measurement
Time's happy swiftness brings,
When birds of Paradise have lent
Their plumage for his wings!